In the old days of mechanical telephones, a wiretap would require someone— usually a government agency—to literally change the circuitry of your lines to listen in. These days, smartphones make tapping much easier than that. With very little know-how, someone can install software that remotely monitors where you are and what you’re doing with your phone.
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Apple has earned a reputation for keeping its devices safe from outside hacking most of the time, but there’s a huge security hole in every smartphone: Anyone who has physical access to your phone, even for a few minutes, can install potentially malicious apps. Unlike the malware spread by hackers, installing basic stalkerware that tracks your location doesn’t require technical knowledge beyond knowing how the App Store works, and it’s not particularly difficult to jailbreak an iPhone and install apps that listen to your calls, read your texts, and access your microphone and camera, either.
What is stalkerware used for?
There are legitimate uses for apps that monitor someone else’s phone. They can be used for employees to keep an eye on their workers, for parents to keep track of their children, or as security devices if your phone gets stolen. But they can (and are) used by stalkers too, sometimes with deadly consequences.
The App Store makes an effort to keep openly malicious apps off your phone and has guidelines for what aspects of your phone can be spied upon, but there are apps within Apple’s rules being misused as tools to stalk people. Something like Spy Phone is advertised as a way for parents to keep track of their kids, but judging by the top comments on the App Store, many people are using it to keep track of their partners, who presumably don’t know their movements are being tracked. Even iOS’s built in features like “Find My” can be used to stalk someone.
Apps that allow more invasive forms of stalking like accessing the camera and microphones remotely likely wouldn’t be available in the App Store, but if an iPhone is jailbroken, anything goes.
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How to tell if your phone is tapped
There are some telltale signs that a stalking app has been installed on a phone. Maybe the battery will run out faster, data rates will spike, or you’ll notice frequent crashes. But it’s likely you won’t notice anything amiss on your phone. The initial evidence could come from real-life suspicious activity. So trust your gut: If you think someone is stalking you via your iPhone, check for it.
How to find and remove different kinds of stalkerware
Once installed, a stalkerware app may run in the background with no notification that it exists. There are also ways of keeping track of someone through their iPhone that don’t require any apps at all, just changing a few privacy settings. So here’s what to look for.
Check for a device management profile
If someone wants full access to a remote phone, the most powerful option is to install a device management profile. This is the kind of thing you might have on a cellphone provided by your job or school. It won’t be hidden, but it can be difficult to remove.
To check for a device management profile, go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management. If there’s nothing listed here, you’re good. If there’s a profile, you can try to remove it, but it will probably require a passcode. If so, you’ll probably have to reset your phone to factory settings. (Instructions below.)
Search for hidden stalker apps on a non-jailbroken iPhone
It’s trivial to keep an app’s icon hidden on an iPhone’s screens, but it can enough for many people to never know it exists. To check what apps are installed on your iPhone, swipe left on your iPhone Home Screen until you get to the App Library. Click the search bar for an alphabetical list you can scroll through to make sure there is nothing installed that you don’t recognize. Sometimes spying apps have innocent sounding names, so if you’re not sure what an app does, google it.
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Check if your phone has been jailbroken
Jailbreaking—modifying a phone to remove manufacturer restrictions—can be done fairly easily. It’s not necessarily bad (although Apple may disagree), but it does allow the installation of any kind of software, including the most malicious spyware.
It probably won’t be immediately evident if your phone has been secretly jailbroken, but if you find apps called “Cydia,”Checkra1n,” or “Sileo,” it’s probably been tampered with.
Many of the exploits that allow jailbreaking are only available on older versions of iOS, so make sure you keep your operating system up-to-date. If your phone has been jailbroken, simply updating to the most recent version of iOS will likely solve the problem. Unfortunately, most jailbreak software blocks you from updating on the iPhone itself for this reason, but you can update from your Mac or PC using Finder or iTunes.
Check the “Find My” app
Even the applications for finding a lost device and locating friends can be used to stalk someone. To check who has access to your location, navigate to the “Find My” app. Click the “People” tab at the bottom. From there, you can remove anyone you don’t want seeing your location, and you can turn off location sharing entirely from the same screen, too.
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Verify your information isn’t being shared
To make sure that the data in your Apple ID isn’t being viewed by anyone, go to Settings, then tap on your name at the top of the screen. Scroll down to “Family Sharing.” Remove anyone from this list who shouldn’t be there.
Next, go back to Apple ID settings and scroll down. There should be a list of registered devices here, including phones, computers, tablets, etc. You can remove any by clicking on it and hitting “Remove Device.”
Keep track of privacy with iPhone’s “App Privacy Report”
If you want to check which apps have permission to do which things on your phone, you can check your “App Privacy Report.” Go to Settings > Privacy & Security, then tap “App Privacy Report.” This will give you an overview of the permissions you’ve given apps and show their network activity. If anything looks suspicious here, you can change the settings or delete the app.
A factory reset will remove all stalkerware from your phone
While deleting offending apps, updating to a current version of iOS, and keeping “Location Sharing” turned off will take care of most kinds of common iPhone stalkerware, if you want to be absolutely sure, you can perform a factory reset on your phone. This will wipe your device clean, so think of it as the nuclear option and proceed with caution.
To factory reset your phone, tap Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device].
How to prevent stalkerware in the first place
The easiest way to prevent stalkerware installation on your phone is to not let anyone else use your phone, even if it’s “just for a minute.” It doesn’t take long to download an app or change your privacy settings.
If your phone is going to be out of your possession for any reason, make sure biometric security is turned on, so it can only be opened by your face or your fingerprint. Make sure your “Auto-Lock” isn’t set to “Never.” Use a password manager like iCloud Keychain and Passkeys when possible, turn on two-step verification for your Apple ID, and never tell anyone else your passcode.
